Site Mobile Navigation

Zaire Admits Rebels Took Southern Port

The Government acknowledged today that rebels had captured a vital port in the mineral-rich southern province of Shaba and said it had rushed troops there to try to hold back the rebel advance.

The rebels had taken the port of Kalemie, a Defense Ministry official confirmed today, and were now trying to reach Moba, another port on Lake Tanganyika about 90 miles away.

Zaire also acknowledged more battlefield losses to the Tutsi-led rebels who now hold a 600-mile strip of land along the border with Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. But it gave no casualty figures.

Despite the loss of Kalemie, an important supply link for copper and cobalt mines around Lubumbashi, the provincial capital some 500 miles away, the Government rejected the latest rebel calls for negotiations.

On Monday, a senior Defense Ministry official said that Togo, Chad and Morocco had accepted a request for troops and that Egypt agreed to send war materials. But today Togo denied planning to send troops and Egypt said it had no defense ties with Zaire.

There was no word from Chad or Morocco, where Zaire's President, Mobutu Sese Seko, was visiting.